Currently reading: Tavares: Cost-cutting to make EVs cheaper threatens plants

Stellantis boss says factories will idle if car makers are unable to absorb the higher costs of electric cars

Plant shutdowns are inevitable if car makers can’t absorb the higher costs of electric cars and the market shrinks as a result, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has warned.

Tavares was responding to questions at the CES tech event held in Las Vegas last week about Stellantis’s decision to indefinitely idle the company’s Jeep Cherokee plant in Belvidere, Illinois, starting February.

Electric cars are 40% more expensive to build than combustion-engine equivalents, said Tavares.

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